Each school holidays, we have the joy and privledge of running our kids and teens cooking classes at Relish Mama. At Relish Mama we believe with all our might that every child should be given the opportunity to learn to cook. Cooking is a valuable life skill that sets us up for good health, great lifetime habits and nurtures and encourages creativity. Many of our kids classes menus are based on celebrating the different seasons and teaches children where our food really comes from. This summer, my own classes were all about kids cooking the family meals. The amazing kids and teens cooked :

These are a great little starter or enjoy 2 or 3 for a satisfying lunch served simply with green leaves. The only part younger children may need assistance with is char-grilling the capsicum. We did this over flame on the benches in the cooking school but a barbecue also does an excellent job too. The smoky flavour this imparts is something else.

I get such a buzz watching the kids enjoying foods they have cooked themselves. We have our Italian classes with Carolina still to run tomorrow and then we look forward to welcoming our younger students back in March and April for our next series of classes. We are also going to be running some short weekend workshops this year for kids and teens interested in attending in between each holidays so do keep an eye out here for those.

Our classes are generally for ages 6-11+ as well as teens and tweens groups of 11-16+ and are predominantly run each school holidays.

We would love for you to give these a whirl at home. They were a huge favourite in classes this month. I just adore them.

Cut the top and bottom off the capsicums. Cut them in half lengthways and then half again. Scrape out the seeds. Pre-heat a char-grill, pan or barbecue. Grill capsicums until skins begin to blister and blacken. Place peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic film for about 15 minutes which makes them sweat and assists to remove the skin. Once cool enough to handle, peel, removing all bits of blackened skin. Slice the grilled peppers.

Cut the tomatoes in half and then half again. Cut these into a small dice.

Place the tomatoes, cooked and sliced peppers in a shallow bowl and add oil, vinegar, basil and garlic. Season with salt, to taste.

Place the sliced bread on a baking tray & drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Toast the slices of bread under a griller or on a char-grill or barbecue.

To assemble place the toasted bruschetta on a plate. Place some of the roasted peppers and tomato mixture on top of the toast followed by a slice of cheese. Garnish with a basil leaf.

Note *** It is important to assemble the bruschetta just before serving as it will go soggy if you do it in advance.

Only 11 more sleeps until Father’s Day I am told !! This told to me by my husband and not our three children I’ll have you know! I find this so lovely and really quite funny. When I met Michael, his idea of a celebration, of any kind, was all very casual (a lot like himself) and much to my horror, it didn’t involve a lot of fan fare. Now, after all these years living with someone who has ‘festivities’ in their very blood, he has well and truly caught, what I like to call my families ‘celebration bug’! Counting down sleeps! Who would have thought?

When thinking of a delicious Father’s day recipe to post, so many ideas and choices came to mind. In my ‘recipe head’, I had curries, I had steaks, I had seafood on the barbecue, I had delicious rhubarb and custard filled muffins, I had pancakes, I had a knock out fish and chips, I had visions of families, sitting outside, sharing a gorgeous Spanish Paella and then……I scrapped the lot! As much as my husband loves a tasty dish as much as the next guy, he also loves simplicity. He would love to enjoy something cooked with oodles of love by me and our three gorgeous girls, without it taking away from spending some precious time together and surely, this is what days like these are all about. Our children, definitely have to be involved when it comes to the preparations so I went back to basics and very much an ‘old love’. An ‘old love’ that Michael would happily eat for the rest of his days and never tire of! I’m talking simplicity at it’s best – the freshest free range eggs, a tasty free range ham, a little parmesan here, a dot of cream there, some freshly chopped herbs and cherry tomatoes – thrown in for good measure, if that’s what you crave! This is the perfect example of how using the best ingredients make a simple recipe something quite magical!

This post is a special tribute to all of the amazing Dad’s out there! We hope your Father’s Day is wonderful! We hope it is filled with love, laughter and all the little and big people you adore and whom adore you! We hope that you too, catch the ‘celebration bug’. It is only 11 more sleeps after all!

Heat the oven to 180 o C. Lightly grease each mould of a muffin tray. Line the base and sides of each mould with a slice of ham. Break an egg into each hollow and top each with a halved cherry tomato. Drizzle with the cream, scatter with sea salt, pepper, parsley and parmesan. Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the egg is just set and starting to shrink away from sides of pan. Remove from oven & cool for 5 minutes. Run a blunt edged knife or pallette knife around each mould to loosen the ham and egg tarts and transfer them to a wire rack (if you can wait that long!).
Eat warm or at room temperature.

n.b – If you have stored in the fridge, reheat on a very low oven for a few minutes.